University of Wollongong
Research Online Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)
Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health
2008
Do Australian primary school environments affect children's playground physical activity levels? Anne-Maree Parrish University of Wollongong,
[email protected]
Donald Iverson University of Wollongong,
[email protected]
Kenneth Russell University of Wollongong,
[email protected]
Heather Yeatman University of Wollongong,
[email protected]
Publication Details Parrish, A., Iverson, D., Russell, K. & Yeatman, H. 2008, 'Do Australian primary school environments affect children's playground physical activity levels?', International Conference on Childhood Obesity: evidence and practice from Exercise Science (ICCO 2008), Dept of Sports Science and Physical Education, Hong Kong, pp. 39-39.
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Do Australian primary school environments affect children's playground physical activity levels? Keywords
physical, playground, levels, children, activity, affect, environments, school, primary, australian, do Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details
Parrish, A., Iverson, D., Russell, K. & Yeatman, H. 2008, 'Do Australian primary school environments affect children's playground physical activity levels?', International Conference on Childhood Obesity: evidence and practice from Exercise Science (ICCO 2008), Dept of Sports Science and Physical Education, Hong Kong, pp. 39-39.
This conference paper is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers/1159
Do Australian primary school environments affect children’s playground physical activity levels? Anne-Maree Parrish, K Russell, H Yeatman & D Iverson
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish University of Wollongong Australia
The problem
¼ of Australian children are overweight/obese
60 min/day for children
High BMI associated with low PA (Vincent et al
such as schools (WHO 2002)
(NSW SPANS 2004)
2003)
Children’s PA
9 years = 3 hours/day 15 years = 35-49 mins/day (Sallis et al 1999, Nader et al 2008)
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
(Dept of Health and Ageing 2007)
Enabling environments
Schools provide access to most children
Break time contributes 70-80 mins of a child’s day AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
What we don’t know Area Equipment
Shade
PA Teachers
Surface Weather
Purpose: What variables affect children's PA?
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
What we did
13 Illawarra public primary schools 3 days at each CAST2 (Children’s Activity Scanning Tool; Zask et al 2001) ♦ ♦
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Environmental variables
Area: Playground, surface & shade AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Fixed equipment AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Fixed equipment: Painted ground targets AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Non-fixed equipment & access to it Non-fixed equipment & access to it
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Temperature & humidity
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
Observed physical activity 0.5 0.45
Proportions
0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2
Low Activity
Moderate Activity
0.15 0.1
High Activity
0.05 0
Activity Categories AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
0.4 1 0.2 0.5 0 0
AnneAnne-Maree Parrish
0.6 1.5 W all target
Environmental variables
Unshaded
4.5 1.8
p
